Why should employers be the one to bear the brunt every time workers complain of facing difficulty in making both ends meet due to the erosion in their purchasing power?

Employers tossed this question as they maintained in yesterday’s public hearing conducted by the National Capital Region (NCR)-Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) that wage hikes through the years have not solved workers’ woes.

ECOP Acting President Rene Y. Soriano said government’s thrust of job generation which ECOP fully supports is the right approach coupled with “holistic solutions.”

He said “holistic solutions” that will address spiraling inflation, cost of doing business in the country, competitiveness, grinding poverty and joblessness will indeed alleviate the plight of both businesses and workers.

“Will wage increase create jobs? The resounding answer is no,” Soriano emphasized, pointing out that wages adjustments not left to “market forces” have exacerbated the conditions of vulnerable workers. “What has been happening is that the formal sector is shrinking and the informal sector is expanding,” Soriano emphasized.

Lawyer Antonio H. Abad Jr., ECOP Governor and Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities (PACU) legal counsel, said it’s about time that the government seriously consider other solutions than a wage increase such as widening the scope of tax credits and imposing a cap on food prices, rent and transport fares.

“Raising the minimum wage will only contribute to inflation because of its ripple effects,” Abad argued.